


Not Right Amongst The Spices

by FifiMae



Series: The Highchurches [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (not really) - Freeform, Adopted Lup Taako and Magnus, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, Food Poisoning, Gen, M/M, Merle is a good dad, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Taako did a bad thing, no betas we die like men, this was originally a one shot, title might change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 04:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16111016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FifiMae/pseuds/FifiMae
Summary: Merle gets called from work.





	Not Right Amongst The Spices

**March 7, 2011**

Merle is sitting outside the principal office of Neverwinter High School, still wearing his nurse’s scrubs and extremely worried. This isn’t an unusual thing for him if he was honest. He loves his children but damn are they good at finding their way into trouble. Whether its Taakos Kleptomania getting out of hand, Magnus getting blamed for fights he was trying to stop, or Lup putting a flaming bag of dog shit in a boy’s locker after he asked her out as a prank, he’s pretty sure Principal Hawthorn has him and Davenport on speed-dial. But this time was different, usually when Hawthorn calls he sounds annoyed, but when he got the call this time saying Taako was in the office he sounded very concerned, plus before he even got the call, a bunch of ambulances were sent to the school, and when he got to the school he saw a bunch of people being hauled into the ambulances.

Usually when Taako get sent to the office he’ll either be annoyed that he got caught stealing someone’s lunch money or him and Lup having similar reports and being accused of cheating even though it’s just a couple of sentences or have a smug sense of self-satisfaction after defending Lup from some dick who couldn’t take no for an answer. But this time, he’s utterly devastated, crying with his head in his hands. Merle expected this from Magnus, not Taako. But he knows the drill, so he sits outside the door and waits until Principal Hawthorn arrives.     

As he’s waiting for Principal Hawthorn, Merles phone rings, he answers, “Hello?”

“Merle!” the familiar voice on the other end yells frantically, “What happened? I just got a call from the school, b-but all they told me was that something bad happened and Taako had something to do with it, i- is he ok? Are Lup and Magnus ok?”

“Dav, breathe, you’re getting frantic.” Merle tries to keep his voice even and calm, he knows how bad his husband can get when he’s worried and he didn’t want him to have a panic attack, he waits for Davenport to finish before continuing, “I just got here and I’m waiting for Hawthorn. There ambulances outside the school, Taakos crying in the office, and I… don’t know about Magnus and Lup.”

Davenport sighs and Merle can practically hear him pinching the bridge of his nose, “God damn it, of all fucking times to be in Seattle.” He sighs again, “Look, I--I haft to go check into my hotel, just call me back when you get an update, ok?”

Merle nods, “Yeah, no problem Dav.” He pauses, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Merle.”

The call ends, and Merle sighs. He knows today was the first day of the Spring Fling Festival, a week-long event where one student (Juniors and Seniors only) from each class and club would make some kind of presentation. Not only was it a chance for kids to show off their talent but representatives from colleges both local and out of state would come and some of the kids get a good chance at scholarships. Taako was chosen to represent Home Ec, planning on doing a live cooking show. He had been so excited all month, practicing what to say, picking out what to wear, choosing what to make, he even got Davenport to teach him some basic magic tricks to add some flair to the show, bragging about it all the while, so what could have happened? 

Merle jumps when he hears someone clears their throat.

Principal Hawthorn is standing next to the door, “Dr. Highchurch,”

Merle looks up, “Principal Hawthorn,” he smiles, trying to defuse the tension, “nice to see you. How you been?”

“I’ve-uh-I’ve been better.” Hawthorn is very uncomfortable and definitely not in the mood for small talk, “I apologize for being late, I had to…take care of some things.” He sighs, “Let’s just get this over with.” He walks into his office, Merle follows.

 Taako has since stopped crying and is instead looking down ashamed, his over-sized sun hat hiding his face and his hands in white-knuckled grip on his skirt. Merle sits next to him.

Hawthorn sits down at his desk, he takes a deep breath, “At about noon today, Taako was doing his presentation, after he finished he handed out free samples. Thirty-five students, four teachers, and one of the college representatives are now in the hospital with food poisoning. The one connection that they have is that they had ate Taakos food.”

Merle's eyes widen, “Well... that explains the ambulances and me being here but what about Lup and Magnus?”

“They were the first to get sick.” Taako’s voice is barely above a whisper, his arms now wrapped around himself and fresh tears in his eyes.

Before Merle can say anything, Hawthorn speaks, “Now, I’m not accusing him of doing this on purpose, but you haft to understand that your son has garnered quite the track record over the three years he’s attended this school, and while we can overlook things like petty theft or fighting in self-defense, this is just something we can’t overlook, so I’m sorry to say, but as of today Taako has been expelled from Neverwinter High School. I’ll send for someone to collect his things. You may leave.”

Part of Merle wants to argue, he knows Taako, he’s always so careful when he handles food as any chef would, couldn’t have done this, but the fact if the matter is all the evidence points to Taako. Merle sighs, “Thank you, Principle Hawthorn.” He turns to Taako, “Come on, son. We should be headn’ home.”

Almost robotically, Taako gets up and follows his father. Neither of them speak, not when they leave the room, not when they leave the building, and not on the ride home.

When they get home, Taako immediately heads for the stairs.

Merles beeper beeps, he sighs, “Hey Taako, I gotta head back to work. If you want, you can come with, see you brother and sister.”

Taako turns around and shakes his head.

Merle nods, “Ok, well, don’t burn down the house, there’s leftovers in the fridge, I should be home later tonight. I love you.”

“Love you too, Daddy” Taako signs, then turns around and heads upstairs to his room.


End file.
